Mani of the Week: Spray Paint Ombrè featuring Sephora and LVX

Ombrè nails are deceivingly easy to pull off. When you’re done with these 3 simple steps, I pinky swear you’re going to have to use your perfectly manicured tips to pick your jaw up off the ground! For this mani of the week, I’m using one of my current obsessions from Sephora’s new Formula X collection, Thrilling. It’s such a smooth, clean, light grey, I couldn’t resist. I then paired it with a darker slate grey from LVX to help create an old school spray paint effect.

Step 1: After applying your base coat, paint 2 coats of Formula X Thrilling. Let set for 2 minutes before applying a quick dry top coat (Seche Vite is a lifesaver). This will create a clean, smooth surface for the ombrè.

Step 2: Once your nails are dry, cut a piece of your makeup sponge/wedge to create a smaller, horizontal sponge. Dab some polish on a piece of tin foil, fold your little sponge in half and dip delicately in the polish (tap excess polish on the tin foil. The first layer should be very soft, not highly saturated with color).

With your folded sponge, dab your nail from the tip to the middle. Let dry for about 1 minute and then repeat. Adding layers (with differing amounts of polish) creates the ombrè effect. The tip of your nail should be the darkest.

Don’t worry about getting nail polish on your skin. There’s really no way around it for this mani. When you have the desired effect, take an old makeup brush or Q-tip and dip it in acetone/nail polish remover. Delicately wipe the polish off your skin and you’re ready to go…almost!

Step 3: This last step is my fave! Seal your design with your top coat. It’s better to apply the top coat sooner rather than later when doing ombrè as it helps blend the light and dark polishes together.